We're still getting through our long, hot, and stormy summer. Fall is just around the corner, however, we still need to get through September. As is usual for me during this part of the year, business is still slow. The fishing is still in it's summer pattern of kingfish, bonito, and barracuda on the reef. Night time snapper fishing is still worth pursuing. Dolphin fishing remains mostly slow with a decent day here and there. Most people I talk with who have ventured out in pursuit of dolphin have come back disappointed or have only caught a couple. They all say the same thing; no weed, no birds, no debris, and no rips, just a clean ocean.
Let me bring you up to date on my fishing (or should I say lack of fishing) trips. When you see the dates, you'll understand why I say lack of.
Saturday (8/19), Mark Rubert, his son Sam, and Sam's brother-in-law, Rubin just wanted to spend some time together and catch a few fish. Species or size didn't matter. We started off Haulover Inlet and wound up off the Miami Sea Buoy. We covered the water from 100 - 230 feet with flatlines, downrigger, and bottom rigs. As is usual for this time of year, the downrigger and bottom rig saw most of the action with several kingfish and bonito, a shark, a remora, and a determined triggerfish that ate the bait and got the hook in its small mouth. The highlight of the trip was the swordfish that swam with us in 170 feet for several minutes. Try as we might, the fish refused our pilchards and bluerunner offerings. Each time we put the bait in front of the fish, it would go down as if to catch the bait and then come right back to the surface. When we lost sight of the swordfish, it was heading inshore toward shallower water.
Monday (9/4), Bruce Moldow spent some quality time with his son Jordan and daughter Eliza. Both young anglers pitched right in with scooping the bait in the livewell after I made one throw with the castnet. We started just south of Haulover Inlet and put out our flatlines, downrigger, and bottom rig. We had enough wind to fly the ex-light kite with 1 rod. The kite bait did the trick and Jordan caught and released a barracuda. Next, Eliza caught a bonito on the kite outfit. We watched a waterspout come down from a storm coming ashore off Government Cut. Then a storm developed to the north of us and we saw another waterspout whipping up the surface. So far we avoided the rain storms. We moved south to off 87th Street and Jordan released a kingfish on the bottom rig. As soon as we started chumming off both sides of the boat with pilchards, Eliza caught and released a bonito on a flatline. Our luck with the storms finally ran out and the seas kicked up with just a few minutes left in the trip when the wind started blowing over 20 MPH. We pulled in all our baits to head in and the bottom rig once again caught a triggerfish with a very big appetite. Jordan and Eliza were both a real big help with getting baits out of the livewell for me and doing a great job with throwing out the chum baits. The team effort by everyone made for a fun and successful morning. Oh, by the way, Dad got his chance with one fish that hit the bottom rig and really peeled off some line. That was the only strike we had that didn't result in landing and releasing a fish. Better luck next time Dad.
As you can see, there was a lot of time between trips, but they were both almost identical with what we caught. We're looking forward to the Fall mullet run and the fishing that comes with it. I'll be taking my yearly vacation to Marco Island and checking out the wade fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. I'll let you know how the action is so you can schedule a wade fishing trip. Meanwhile, if you want to fish on the Atlantic side of Florida , I have the openings, so give me a call and lets get out on the ocean and have some fun catching fish.
Captain Dave Kostyo
Knot Nancy Fishing Charters
305 620-5896 Charter
305 965-9454 Cell
www.knotnancy.com
nkostyo@bellsouth.net